Thread by @ggreenwald

A major grievance on the right is the suppression of free speech with dangerous theories that speech becomes violence that deserves firing or worse.

They are correct, but the right often uses the same theories to justify doing this to Israel critics. Watch here how it's done:

https://twitter.com/nicolelampert/status/1446791555227004930

I've been reporting on -- and denouncing -- the growing repression of free speech in the west for two decades. Often it's done by the left, claiming ideas they hate are racist, misogynistic, transphobic, etc. and must be prohibited. But so often the targets are Israel critics.

Censorship is a strong human temptation. That's why the US Founders guaranteed free speech. We all have a tendency to view ideas we hate as so dangerous they should be banned. But if you don't stand for the principle in *all cases*, it's worthless:

theintercept.com/2016/02/16/gre…

The fact is many professors in the west have been fired or otherwise punished for criticizing Israel. GOP governors have passed laws punishing US citizens for advocating a boycott of Israel. Pro-Palestinian students are routinely punished on US campuses.

theintercept.com/2018/01/31/kan…

The left defends its censorship by claiming speech isn't really speech: it turns into "hate speech" when it becomes racist, transphobic, etc. Many on the right do the same with Israel critics: that's not speech but anti-Semitism! You either reject this framework or you don't.

In 2014, the Univ. of Illinois withdrew its faculty offer to Steven Salaita, a Palestinian-American professor, due to his tweets criticizing Israeli bombing of Gaza. Nobody can claim the rationale of faculty and students defending this is different than left-wing campus censors:

One of the first cases of Facebook censorship I reported on was FB banning Palestinian journalists and activists when Israel demanded it. The primary US target of this censorship now is the right, but anti-establishment leftists are also often targeted.

theintercept.com/2016/09/12/fac…